Puttles Bridge in the New Forest

The weather was rain with a few clear spells!! Highlight was a Peregrine.

I knew our luck with the weather couldn’t last!!!! The early part of the morning was bright and clear with sun. Even as we met at Puttles Bridge car park there was sunshine. What a happy mood we were all in. I was feeling especially smug because the weather reports had been for rain.
We set off over the Ober Water, across the road and out over the heath towards Hinchelsea Moor. Tracy spotted 2 deer on the other side of the valley. They were 2 Fallow Deer stags. A Peregrine flew past us and over Hinchelsea Moor giving good views of its grey back and the flight outline. We took a few more steps and it started to rain a bit – it won’t last I thought. After another 5 minutes it was pelting down! We all started to shelter under 2 large conifers where it was fairly dry. A few Carrion Crows were sitting it out on the open grass near by. Then there was a flash of lightening and some thunder. Under a tree on the highest point of land for miles around is not the best place to be in a thunderstorm, so off we went.
We could shelter in the woods just past the stream, I thought. We walked own the slope and got towards the stream. A Mistle Thrush was sitting in the top of a tree and as the rain eased off a Song Thrush started to sing in the woods – maybe it wasn’t so bad in there. However, the stream was no longer the little stream it had been. It had burst its banks and was flowing over the path to the bridge. Bernie bravely tested the depth of the water in his wellies. Too deep!! We had to forgo the woods and turned back to walk through scrub and heathland back towards the cars.
The rain started to ease off now and we saw some thrushes a little way off. A mixed flock of Blackbird and Fieldfare. A Stonechat popped onto the gorse nearby and a few Meadow Pipit flitted around. As we got to the scrub we saw a flock of Fieldfare and Redwing fly out of it and heard a Dartford Warbler call briefly nearby. Woodpigeons flew over and a Robin was in the scrub with a Dunnock calling.
As we neared the car park and had just about dried off, the heavens opened again!! Nothing to cheer us up except a Green Woodpecker on a nearby Birch tree.
At least it had been a bit of an adventure!!
Some of us were going on the Hawfinch walk this afternoon, so we adjourned to a pub in Brcokenhurst for food, drink and warmth.
Simon Curson